Commodore 64 - Third time's a charm?

[Cloudschatze]

I now have a cursor prompt. I may still end up re-seating the chips, as there are some issues with text input. It's somewhat "flaky," randomly requiring several key presses before the output appears on-screen.

The same keys or totally random? the keyboards can go bad too, an extra hard workout (hammering the keys a few times) might help that, it's probably bad contacts. If it's not consistently happening to the same keys, reseating/swapping the CIA chips sounds like the way to go.

Bah. Turns out it was the key contacts. After pressing and wiggling the affected keys, the issues cleared right up.

Thank-you for all of the input, everyone!

[Cloudschatze]

[Laust]

One of the prettiest games on the C64. It's a good thing crackers know how to fix PAL games to run on NTSC

[Cloudschatze]

One of the prettiest games on the C64. It's a good thing crackers know how to fix PAL games to run on NTSC

Indeed.

I'm amazed at how easy the Commodore has been to work with. I was initially put off by the fact that I didn't have any software, but I bought an XE1541 cable, installed 64HDD on the little UNISYS PC, loaded up the CF "hard-drive," and I'm off and running.

From what I've seen and heard thus far, I'm thoroughly impressed by what the Commodore can do.

[Laust]

Well, 64HDD is nice, but it only loads at (slightly above) normal floppy speed, at least in the shareware version, which is not so great. And you can't run MIM directly from 64HDD because of the game's fastloader, I imagine.

BTW, for "ease of interfacing" (or whatever we should call it), I really think the award goes to Atari. The eight bitters use regular RS-232 for the disk drives, so it's easy to emulate with a PC with a regular serial port, and pretty fast as well. Even the ST reads and writes DOS/FAT floppies by default, compared to the Amiga...

[Cloudschatze]

Well, 64HDD is nice, but it only loads at (slightly above) normal floppy speed, at least in the shareware version, which is not so great.

I'm cheap, so guess which version I'm using. With the "fastest" switch, most programs load in under 30 seconds. Not super-great, but not terrible either.

And you can't run MIM directly from 64HDD because of the game's fastloader, I imagine.

Seems to work just fine for me.

[shad0wfax]

One of the prettiest games on the C64.

Totally agreed. A very nice plattformer, although not the most addictive C64 game ever.

Cloudschatze, give a look at "Natural Wonder" and "Deus Ex Machina" demos, and you'll get an idea of what a C64 can do when pushed to the max.

[enigma]

Nice thread

Well I have started myself with a C64 and got a lot of stuff still today.
Just as side note: if you pull the 6581 out of the SX-64 and scrap the comp. - you might end up in hell

So how to get some C64 Experience hmm, first setup the system with a bigger screen for normal use, like a 22" CRT TV and use splitted Chroma/Luma (so called S-Video).
For Sound use some Hifi-set.

Read the technical specification in the manual.

To start, leave the system in an unmodified state and try some programs from the Disk that came with the early C64s.
These are games like Jupiter Lander and Frogger f.e.

For the later experience get some speedloader first. For this, you can get some so called Multi Function Module, like Action Replay MK6 (4 or 5 will do also), Final Cartridge 3, Magic Formel 2.0, Nordic Power ....
If you can't get the Hardware get at least some software speedloader like Gigaload, GT 1, Heureka Sprint...
Now load games like: Paradroid, Parallax, Delta, Nebulus, Elite, Cybernoid II (long list of single file games here).
Also check the C64 Version of Maniac Mansion and ZakMcKracken.

Next step would be Katakis, Turrican I and II, Enforcer, Catalypse,X-Out,...

This is for games, now if you want to see some really incredible stuff try some of the latest scene demos:
Deus Ex Machinae, Natural Wonders, Sharp, Desert Dream and Second Reality Remake, Cycle, Dutch Breeze (go to www.c64.ch ).

Now recheck the technical specifications in the manual.

[Cloudschatze]

Fourth time's a charm, perhaps...?

I (regrettably) sold the SX-64 prior to moving down here in 2008, but recently picked up a minty C64 setup from a local seller to replace it.

I plan to get 64HDD going again shortly, but in the meantime, still have the copy of Times of Lore that I'd obtained a few years back.

Speaking of which...

I did have a listen to the Times of Lore tunes ... I think I prefer the Game Blaster versions.

Did I really say this?

Here's an interesting, if somewhat unfair comparison:

Times of Lore - Intro 7, Philips SAA1099

Times of Lore - Intro 7, MOS 6581 w/effects-loop

[endre1952]

I have several working C64 computers at home, including a compatible C128. I want to get an "Ultimate 1541" SD card-based floppy replacement device soon, it's too much of a hassle to bother with floppy disks these days.

My Amiga 500 and Atari Mega ST1 computers have already been fitted with an HxC floppy emulator device.

[Great Hierophant]

Fourth time's a charm, perhaps...?

I (regrettably) sold the SX-64 prior to moving down here in 2008, but recently picked up a minty C64 setup from a local seller to replace it.

I plan to get 64HDD going again shortly, but in the meantime, still have the copy of Times of Lore that I'd obtained a few years back.

Speaking of which...

I did have a listen to the Times of Lore tunes ... I think I prefer the Game Blaster versions.

Did I really say this?

Here's an interesting, if somewhat unfair comparison:

Times of Lore - Intro 7, Philips SAA1099

Times of Lore - Intro 7, MOS 6581 w/effects-loop

A fair comparison for the Commodore 64 would be located here:

http://fonix.dyndns.org:40000/soasc/index.php?sb=SOASC&sc=galway&p=6&did=

Track 8 is the correct track to listen to.  The Game Blaster cannot quite do the original justice, as it does not have sawtooth and triangle waveforms, but it comes very close. 

[BlueMax]

It bears repeating, if you liked C64 music, download the HIGH VOLTAGE SID Collection!  Several thousand songs - every game plus many more!  I listen to 'em all day at work.  I need to find some sort of portable device (Apple ipod, etc) that will use Winamp/XMP plugins and let me play my SIDs on that.  I can't use any kind of "computer" at my desk because of data-theft paranoia.  (It's stupid - I move data all the time but they freak out when they see a laptop on your desk beside your terminal.  An ipod would get no suspicion at all, but so far only a PC can run Winamp or XMP.) 

[Cloudschatze]

A fair comparison for the Commodore 64 would be located here:

I did record and upload a "raw" version, but didn't post a link. Since the Game Blaster has the benefit of being natively stereo, some sort of compromise was in order.

So, for the Fox News crowd:

Times of Lore - Intro 7, MOS 6581

[BlueMax]

I prefer my SIDs with XMP's awesome reverb generator (and stereo seperation.)  Takes that ten-penny sound and makes it sound like a quarter!